Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/198

Rh 186 NAPIER has also given rise to the impression that there was but little chance of further information being obtained with respect to Napier s life. In 1834 Mr Mark Napier published his Memoirs of John Napier of Jfercfiiston, his Life, Lineage^ and Times, with a History of the Invention of Logarithms, a large quarto volume of five hundred and thirty-four pages. Mr Mark Napier, who had already devoted great attention to the history of Scotland with special reference to the families of Lennox and Napier, had full access to all the charters and papers in the possession of the family, and he spared no pains in examining every document and investigating every point which seemed likely to throw light upon the life of Napier and the circumstances amidst which his life was passed. The work contains a vast mass of general information relating to Napier and his rela tives, and the people with whom he was brought into contact, besides much col lateral matter which serves to illustrate the state of the country at the time. The facts relating to Xapier s own life are so interwoven with the other contents of the volume, and the work is so large, that in the absence of an index it is veiy difficult to extract the comparatively small portion that relates to Napier himself. From this work, which is the sole authority upon the private events of Napier s life, all the facts given in this article with respect to his descent and personal history have been derived. In 1839 Mr Mark Napier completed his labours by editing Napier s unpublished manuscripts, of which he had only been able to give a re sumc in the Memoirs, and to this he prefixed an introduction, the greater part of which, how ever, is included in the Memoirs. Three different portraits of Napier are known to be in existence; one was engraved as the frontispiece to the earl of Buchan s Account, and another forms the frontispiece to the Memoirs. There is also an engraving of Napier in Lilly s Life and Times (1822). Foran account of the con tents of Napier s mathematical works and their place in the history of science, the reader is referred to Delambre s Ilistoire de VAstronomie moderne. It maybe useful to give, in conclusion, a list of Napier s works with a brief state ment of the contents of each. The works published in his lifetime are (1) The Plaine Discovery (1593), containing an interpretation of the Book of Revelation ; (2) the Canonis Mirifici Loganthmorum Descriptio, containing the first announce- me nt of the invention of logarithms and a table of log sines, also the rules of circu lar parts ; (3) the Rabdologia (1617), containing the description of Napier s bones, the promptuary, and the method of local arithmetic, all three designed for the simplification of multiplications and divisions. The posthumous works are (1) the Canonis Mirtfici Logarithmorum Constructio (1619), edited by his son Robert, con taining an account of the mode of construction of the canon, and Napier s analogies ; this book is the first in which the decimal point was systematically employed ; (2) the treatise De Arte Logistica, edited by Mr Mark Napier in 1839, containing treatises on arithmetic and algebra, transcribed from Napier s notes by his son Robert, (J. W. L. G.) NAPIER, SIR WILLIAM FRANCIS PATRICK (1785-1860), the third son of Colonel and Lady Sarah Napier, and brother of Sir Charles and Sir George Napier, was born at Cellbridge, near Dublin, on the 17th of December 1785. He became an ensign in the Royal Irish Artillery in 1800, but at once exchanged into the 62d, and was put on half- pay in 1802. He was afterwards made a cornet in the Blues by his uncle the duke of Richmond, and exchanged into the 52d regiment. He obtained a company in a West India regiment, but exchanged again into the 43d when it was being trained at Shorncliffe under Sir John Moore, who took Napier into special favour, and won his ever lasting gratitude. He served in Denmark, and was present at the engagement of Kioge, and, his regiment being shortly afterwards sent to Spain, he bore himself nobly through the retreat to Corunna. In 1809 he became aide-de-camp to his uncle in Ireland, but joined the 43d when ordered again to Spain. With the light brigade (the 43d, 52d, and 95th), under the command of General Craufurd, he marched to Talavera in the famous forced march which he has described in his History, and had a violent attack of ] &amp;gt;leurisy on the way. He, however, refused to leave Spain, was wounded on the Coa, and shot near the spine at Cazal Nova. His conduct was so conspicuous during the pur suit of Mass^na after he left the lines of Torres Vedras that he as well as his brother George was recommended for a brevet majority. He became brigade major, was present at Fuentes d Onor, but had so bad an attack of ague that he was obliged to return to England. In England he fell in love with and married Caroline Fox, the daughter of General Henry Fox, with whom Moore had been in love in Sicily. Three days after his marriage he again started for Spain, and was present at the storming of Badajoz, where his great friend Colonel M Leod was killed. In the absence of the new lieutenant-colonel he took command of the 43d regiment, and commanded it at the battle of Salamanca. After a short stay at home he again joined his regiment at the Pyrenees, and did his greatest military service at the battle of the Nivelle, where, with instinctive military insight, he secured the most strongly fortified part of Soult s position, practically without orders. He served with his regiment at the battles of the Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse. For his services he was made brevet lieutenant-colonel, and one of the first C.B. s. Like his brother Charles he then entered the military college at Farnham. He commanded his regiment in the army of occupation in France until 1819, when he retired on half- pay. As it was impossible for him to live on his half-pay with a wife and family, he determined to become an artist, and took a house in Sloane Street, where he studied with George Jones, the academician. The years he had spent in France he had occupied in improving his general education, for it will hardly be believed that the author of the History of the War in the Peninsula could not spell or write respect able English till that time. But his career was to be great in literature, not in art. The tendency appeared in an able review of Jomini in 1821, and in 1823 Mr Bicker- steth, afterwards Lord Langdale, suggested to him the expediency of writing a history of the Peninsular War. For some time he did not take kindly to the suggestion, but at last determined to become an author in order to defend the memory of Sir John Moore, and to prevent the glory of his old chief being overshadowed by that of Wellington. The duke of Wellington himself gave him much assistance, and handed over to him the whole of Joseph Bonaparte s correspondence which had been taken at the battle of Vittoria ; this was all in cipher, but Mrs Napier, with great patience, discovered the keys. In 1828 the first volume of the History appeared, and it was at once seen that the great deeds of the Peninsular War were about to be fitly commemorated. The excitement which followed the publication of each volume is proved by the innumer able pamphlets issued by those who believed themselves to be attacked, and by personal altercations with many distinguished officers. But the success of the book was proved still more by the &quot;absence of competition than by these bitter controversies. The histories of Southey and Lord Londonderry fell still-born, and Sir George Murray, who had determined to produce the history, gave up the attempt in despair. This success was due to a combina tion of qualities which have justly secured for Napier the title of being the best military historian England has produced. The best military histories have always been written by eye-witnesses. It is impossible for a new generation to analyse the military combinations and under stand the minute facts which account for the winning or losing of a battle, though it may often unravel political intrigues which were veiled to the eyes of contemporaries. Napier added to this qualification a wonderful insight into the nature of war, and was able to describe and understand the movements and feelings of the French as well as of the army in which he himself served. But neither contem porary knowledge nor military ability could have made his History memorable without a peculiarly appropriate literary style. He knew well how to mingle passages relating to individuals with descriptions of military movements, and how to relieve the dryness of details by an occasional glance at more extended subjects. He possessed an enthusiastic admiration for nearly all the heroes whose deeds he touched on. His admiration for Napoleon was only second to that for Moore, and he could feel for Soult in defeat as well as for Wellington in the hour of victory. When in 1840 the last volume of the History was published, his fame not only in England but in France and Germany was safely established. His life during these years had been chiefly absorbed in his History, but he had warmly sympathized with the movement for political reform which was agitating England. The Radicals of Bath pressed him to sit for their city, and it was commonly reported that if the re formers had found it necessary to resort to force Colonel Napier would have been their commander-in-chief. In 1842 he was promoted major-general, and had given him the lieutenant-governorship of Guernsey. Here he found plenty of occupation in controlling the relations between