Notes of Me: The Autobiography of Roger North

374 Pages·2000·19.467 MB·English

by  Roger North, Peter Millard (editor)

NOTES OF ME
The Autobiography of Roger North
The Hon. Roger North, a portrait by Sir Peter Lely. Reproduced
by kind permission of Dr Thomas North.
NOTES OF ME
The Autobiography of
Roger North
Edited by Peter Millard
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2OOO
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
ISBN 0-8020-4471-9
Printed on acid-free paper
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
North, Roger, 1653-1734
Notes of me : the autobiography of Roger North
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8020-4471-9
l. North, Roger, 1653-1734. 2. Lawyers - England - Biography.
3. Scholars — England — Biography. 4. Great Britain - Politics
and government - 1660-1714. I. Title.
DA437.N87A3 2000 94i.o6'og2 099-932557-4
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to
its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the
Ontario Arts Council.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities
and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its
publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book
Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP).
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
PLATES ix
ABBREVIATIONS xi
NORTH STUDIES XV
INTRODUCTION 3
Notes of Me
Conduct in Childhood 79
To the University 91
A Few Transient Observations of My Self 94
Practicall Diversions 99
The Burning of the Temple 110
Architecture, Perspective, Mathematics, and Light 129
As to Musick 142
Entrance to Law 160
Steward to the See of Canterbury 175
Maturity in the Profession of Law 186
Corporall Afflictions and Paines 201
ThePlott 211
High upon the Rising Ground 218
Member for Dunwich 230
Executership of Sir Peter Lely 237
NOTES TO THE EDITION 255
BIBLIOGRAPHY 327
INDEX 343
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am most grateful to the following individuals for answering inquiries
and for help of various other kinds: M. Barber, D. Brown, M. Chan,
P. Day, D. Dethloff, J. Friesen, P.R. Gla/ebrook, J. Henderson, F. Maddi-
son, E. McNeill, T. North, }. Roche, D. Seymour, L. Stewart, P. Turner.
A.E. Shapiro's clarification of several scientific questions was of special
value, and the criticisms of two anonymous readers for the University of
Toronto Press were most helpful. The late Andrew Mitchell gave sub-
stantial help in transcribing and typing the manuscript of Noles of Me,
and I would like to think of this book as, in part, a memorial to him.
The staffs of the Bodleian and British Libraries were, as always, unfail-
ingly helpful and patient, and I am indebted to the Trustees of the Brit-
ish Library for permission to reproduce the manuscript of Notes of Me.
The usual formulae for acknowledging help seem quite inadequate in
the case of someone like Jamie C. Kassler. Throughout this edition of
Notes of Me I acknowledge my debt to her at many specific points, partic-
ularly in matters relating to music and science; many useful comments,
however, that she made on the Introduction have been incorporated
without direct acknowledgment. Here, I thank her for that help as well
as for her all-pervading influence in my North studies.
Dr Kassler and others have saved me from many errors, but even with
such expert help the edition is, no doubt, far from perfect. For all such
imperfections I alone, of course, am responsible.
Finally, I am most grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada for generous grants towards the cost of
research.
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PLATES
FRONTISPIECE The Hon. Roger North, a portrait by Sir Peter Lely.
1 Chart of the Thames estuary from Captain Greenville Collins,
Great Britain's Coasting Pilot... (1693) 104
2 Map of the Temple, London, before the fire, by John Ogilby and
William Morgan (1677) 109
3 Roger North's mathematical instruments at Jesus College,
Cambridge 130-1
4 An illustration from North's essay on perspective,
'Speculum Opticum' (fig. 22), BL Add. MS 32,539, f. iO7v 137
5 A page from the manuscript of Notes of Me (f. 76v), showing North's
diagrammatic illustration of the trill 150