I at last shewed him his error, but left him as I found
him, a pretending ignoramus.
I may seem to some to write incredibilia; be it so, but knowing unto
whom, and for whose only sake, I do write them, I am much comforted
therewith, well knowing you are the most knowing man in these
curiosities of any now living in England; and therefore it is my hope,
these will be a present well-becoming you to accept.
_Praeclara omnia quam difficilia sint, his praesertim temporibus.
(Celeberrime Armiger,) non te fugit_; and therefore I will acquaint you
with one memorable story related unto me by Mr. John Marr, an excellent
mathematican and geometrician, whom I conceive you remember: he was
servant to King James and Charles the First.
At first, when the Lord Napier, or Marchiston, made publick his
Logarithms, Mr. Briggs, then reader of the astronomy lecture at
Gresham-College in London, was so surprized with admiration of them,
that he could have no quietness in himself, until he had seen that noble
person the Lord Marchiston, whose only invention they were: he acquaints
John Marr herewith, who went into Scotland before Mr.
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