. A powerful inducement to the study of pure geometry was
therefore created by the publication of Motte's translation: ordinary
students had here a desirable object to obtain by its careful cultivation,
which hitherto had not existed, and hence when Professor Simpson, of
Woolwich, published his _Algebra_ and the _Elements of Geometry_ in 1745
and 1747, a select reading public had been formed which hailed these
excellent works as valuable accessions to the then scanty means of study.
Nor must the labours of Simpson's talented associates, Rollinson and
Turner, be forgotten when sketching the progress of this revival. The pages
of the _Ladies' Diary_, the _Mathematician_, and the _Mathematical
Exercises_, of which these gentlemen were severally editors and
contributors, soon began to exhibit a goodly array of geometrical
exercises, whilst their lists of correspondents evince a gradual increase
in numbers and ability. The publication of Stewart's _General Theorems_ and
Simson's edition of _Euclid_, in 1746 and 1756, probably to some extent
assisted the movement; but the most active elements at work were
undoubtedly the mathematical periodicals of the time, aided by such
powerful auxiliaries as Simpson's _Select Exercises_ (1752) and his other
treatises previously mentioned. It may further be observed that up to this
period the mere English reader had few, if any means of obtaining access to
the elegant remains of the ancient geometers. Dr. Halley had indeed given
his restoration of Apollonius's _De Sectione Rationis_ and _Sectione
Spatii_ in 1706. Dr. Simson had also issued his edition of the _Locis
Planis_ in 1749; but unfortunately the very language in which these
valuable works were written, precluded the possibility of {59} these
unlettered students being able to derive any material advantages from their
publication: and hence arises another weighty reason why Simpson's writings
were so eagerly studied, seeing they contained the leading propositions of
some of the most interesting researches of the Alexandrian School.

After the death of Simpson, the Rev. John Lawson, who appears to have
inherited no small portion of the spirit of his predecessors, began to take
the lead in geometrical speculations; and having himself carefully studied
the principal writings of the ancient geometers, now formed the happy
project of unfolding these treasures of antiquity to the general reader, by
presenting him with English translations of