To a young lady who commanded a mathematician to write verses, by Brook Taylor

This material is held atUniversity of Leeds Special Collections

  • Reference
    • GB 206 Brotherton Collection MS Lt q 35
  • Dates of Creation
    • ca.1710
  • Name of Creator
  • Language of Material
    • English
  • Physical Description
    • Written on both sides of f.[1] of [2], conjugate. In a single hand, apparently autograph.

Scope and Content

Love poem in praise of the beauty and virtues of a young lady, expressed in mathematical and scientific terms, warning her to resist the advances of all the planets but Saturn

Administrative / Biographical History

Brook Taylor was born into a wealthy family at Edmonton, Middlesex, in 1685. He was educated by private tutors and had a good grounding in classics and mathematics before entering St John's College, Cambridge in 1703. By the time he graduated with an LL.B in 1709, his main interests were already in the field of mathematics. Elected to membership of the Royal Society in 1712 and to the position of Secretary in 1714, he resigned in 1718, partly for health reasons. His most important contribution to the study of mathematics was in the theory of calculus. From 1712 onwards he wrote numerous papers for the Philosophical Transactions and published several books, including a treatise on perspective. He died at Somerset House in 1731.

Access Information

Access is unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Purchased from Scydi, March 1976

Note

In English

Other Finding Aids

Indexed in the BCMSV database http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/bcmsv/intro.html