Thomas Hariot, the Mathematician, the Philosopher and the ScholarStevens, Henry
Philosophy
Thomas Hariot, the Mathematician, the Philosopher and the Scholar
Stevens, Henry
Harriot, Thomas, 1560-1621; Hercules Club
To show that Hariot, like his friends Hakluyt and Purchas, was alive to
everything geographical as well as mathematical going on, the following
is given from the original manuscript among the Hariot papers in the
British Museum (Add. 6789):
Three reasons to prove that there is a passage from the North’ west
into the South-sea.
1. The tydes in Port Nelson (where Sr. Tho : Button did winter, were
constantly, 15, or, 18, foote ; wc is not found in any Bay Throughout
the world but in such seas as lie open att both ends to the mayne
Ocean.
2. Every strong Westerne winde did bring into the Harbor where he
wintered, soe much water, that the Neap-tydes were equall to the
Spring-tydes, notwtstanding yt the harbor was open only to ye E.N.E.
3. In comming out of the harbor, shaping his course directly North,
about, 60, degrees, he found a stronge race of a tyde, set-ting dueEast
and West, wc in probabilitie could be noe other thing, than the tyde
comming from the West, and retourning from the East,
Among the manuscripts in the handwriting of Hariot in the British
Museum (Add. 6789) are these samples of ingenious trifling. No evidence
is forthcoming that he was ever a married man, but that he occasionally
let himself down from pure mathematics and high philosophy and amused
himself with anagrams is plain enough. Here are a few specimens on his
own name.
ANAGRAMS ON THOMAS HARIOTUS
Tu homo artis has traho hosti mufa
Homo has vt artis O trahit hos mufa
Homo hasta vtris oh, os trahit mufa
vitus oho trahit mifas
rutis oho, trahis mutis
Humo astra hosti oho, fum Charitas.
If the pertingent Reader still craves more evidence of the extent of
Hariot’s friendships, and the universality of his acquirements, let him
read the following pithy, quaint, and beautiful tribute paid to him by
blind Old Homer’s Chapman in 1616. It is found in the Preface to the
Reader in the first complete edition of Homer’sworks translated by
George Chapman, London [1616], fo.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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