The mathematical and philosophical works of the Right Rev. John
Wilkins[502].... In two volumes. London, 1802, 8vo.
This work, or at least part of the edition--all for aught I know--is
printed on wood; that is, on paper made from wood-pulp. It has a rough
surface; and when held before a candle is of very unequal transparency.
There is in it a reprint of the works on the earth and moon. The discourse
on the possibility of going to the moon, in this and the edition of 1640,
is incorporated: but from the account in the {227} life prefixed, and a
mention by D'Israeli, I should suppose that it had originally a separate
title-page, and some circulation as a separate tract. Wilkins treats this
subject half seriously, half jocosely; he has evidently not quite made up
his mind. He is clear that "arts are not yet come to their solstice," and
that posterity will bring hidden things to light. As to the difficulty of
carrying food, he thinks, scoffing Puritan that he is, the Papists may be
trained to fast the voyage, or may find the bread of their Eucharist "serve
well enough for their _viaticum_."[503] He also puts the case that the
story of Domingo Gonsales may be realized, namely, that wild geese find
their way to the moon. It will be remembered--to use the usual substitute
for, It has been forgotten--that the posthumous work of Bishop Francis
Godwin[504] of Llandaff was published in 1638, the very year of Wilkins's
first edition, in time for him to mention it at the end. Godwin makes
Domingo Gonsales get to the moon in a chariot drawn by wild geese, and, as
old books would say, discourses fully on that head. It is not a little
amusing that Wilkins should have been seriously accused of plagiarizing
Godwin, Wilkins writing in earnest, or nearly so, and Godwin writing
fiction. It may serve to show philosophers how very near pure speculation
comes to fable. From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step: which is
the sublime, and which the ridiculous, every one must settle for himself.
With me, good fiction is the sublime, and bad speculation the ridiculous.
The number of bishops in my list is small. I might, had I possessed the
book, have opened the list of quadrators with an Archbishop of Canterbury,
or at least with a divine who was not wholly not archbishop. Thomas
Bradwardine[505] (Bragvardinus, Bragadinus) was elected in {228} 1348; the
Pope put in another, who died unconsecrated; and Bradwardine was again
elected in 1349, and lived five weeks longer, dying, I suppose, unconfirmed
and unconsecrated.[506] Leland says he held the see a year, _unus tantum
annulus_,[507] which seems to be a confusion: the whole business, from the
first election, took about a year. He squared the circle, and his
performance was printed at Paris in 1494. I have never seen it, nor any
work of the author, except a tract on proportion.
As Bradwardine's works are very scarce indeed, I give two titles from one
of the Libri catalogues.
"ARITHMETIC. BRAUARDINI (Thomae) Arithmetica speculativa revisa et
correcta a Petro Sanchez Ciruelo Aragonesi, black letter, _elegant
woodcut title-page_, VERY RARE, _folio. Parisiis, per Thomam Anguelast
(pro Olivier Senant), s. a. circa 1510_.[508]
"This book, by Thomas Bradwardine, Archbishop of Canterbury must be
exceedingly scarce as it has escaped the notice of Professor De Morgan,
who, in his _Arithmetical Books_, speaks of a treatise of the same author
on proportions,[509] printed at Vienna in 1515, but does not mention the
present work.
{229}
"Bradwardine (Archbp. T.). Brauardini (Thomae) Geometria speculativa,
com Tractato de Quadratura Circuli bene revisa a Petro Sanchez Ciruelo,
SCARCE, _folio. Parisiis, J. Petit_, 1511.[510]
"In this work we find the _polygones etoiles_,[511] see Chasles (_Apercu_,
pp. 480, 487, 521, 523, &c.) on the merit of the discoveries of this
English mathematician, who was Archbishop of Canterbury in the XIVth
Century (_tempore_ Edward III. A.D. 1349); and who applied geometry to
theology. M. Chasles says that the present work of Bradwardine contains
'Une theorie nouvelle qui doit faire honneur au XIVe Siecle.'"[512]
The titles do not make it quite sure that Bradwardine is the quadrator; it
may be Peter Sanchez after all.[513]