2026-02-10T20:19:19Z

Aevrountas: /* by Leonard and Thomas Digges */

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''An Arithmetical Warlike Treatise Named Stratioticos: Compendiously Teaching the Science of Nombers ... as ... Requisite for the Profession of a Soldiour''}}
===by Leonard and Thomas Digges===
{{NoBookInfoBox
|shorttitle=Arithmetical Warlike Treatise Named Stratioticos
|commontitle=
|vol=
|author=[[:Category:Leonard Digges|Leonard Digges]]
|editor=
|trans=
|publoc=[[:Category:London|London]]
|publisher=Imprinted by Richard Field
|year=1590
|edition=
|lang=
|set=
|pages=
|desc=
}}Leonard and Thomas Digges were a father and son pair, both of whom were significant mathematicians in English society. This work was initially written by Leonard, but was finished and published by his son, Thomas.

The Digges family name was a significant one. The family "was substantial and long established, with a record of holding county office [...]."<ref>"Digges, Leonard," Stephen Johnston, last modified September 23, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/7637</ref> However, Leonard Digges's involvement in the Wyatt uprising of 1554 led to a seizure of his lands, and a death sentence.<ref>"Digges, Thomas," Stephen Johnston, last modified September 23, 2004.</ref> Leonard was pardoned, and eventually had his lands returned to him, but his sons, including Thomas, lost their inheritance rights to the property.<ref>Ibid.</ref>

The contributions of both Leonard and Thomas contributed to reshaping the field mathematics into a professional field. Leonard is recognized as "a key figure in the establishment of the role of the mathematical practitioner."<ref> Johnston,"Digges, Leonard."</ref> But Thomas in particular was committed to "the tradition of mathematical practice in England."<ref>Stephen Johnston, "Like Father, Like Son? John Dee, Thomas Digges and the Identity of the Mathematician." In ''John Dee: Interdisciplinary Studies in English Renaissance Thought,'' ed. Stephen Clucas (Springer, 2006), 67.</ref> He pushed back against the popular belief that math was a secondary subject to philosophy or theology, and believed that the study of math did not need to be justified through philosophical means.<ref>Ibid, 76.</ref> Instead, he believed that "in contrast to the demonstrative certainty of mathematics, philosophy could offer only plausible or probable arguments."<ref>Ibid.</ref> Thomas was also the first English author to publicly back Copernicanism.<ref>Johnston, "Digges, Thomas."</ref>

The first book of "An Arithmetical Warlike Treatise named Stratioticos" was based on a manuscript written by Leonard.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The other two books were written by Thomas.<ref>Ibid.</ref> This volume is an accounting of the various types of mathematical proofs which could be useful to a soldier in the field. <ref>Charles Hutton, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=1_E1AAAAQAAJ&pg=PA417 A Philosophical and Mathematical Dictionary Containing... Memoirs of the Lives and Writings of the Most Eminent Authors,]'' vol. 1 (London: Printed for the author, 1815), 417-418.</ref> It contained a Pythagorean explanation of the interactions of the celestial bodies. The book also contained instruction in fractions, algebra and the science of numbers, as basic arithmetic was called. Interestingly the book also contained a breakdown of several military campaigns and a hypothetical plan for the repulsion of any force which might try to invade England.<ref>Charles Hutton, ''A Philosophical and Mathematical Dictionary.''</ref>

==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==
Listed in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as "Digges's Stratioticos. 8vo." This was one of the titles kept by [[Thomas Jefferson]] and later sold to the Library of Congress in 1815. Both [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on February 2, 2015.</ref> on LibraryThing and the [https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433 Brown Bibliography]<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.</ref> list the 1590 edition published in London. This is also the edition Millicent Sowerby's included in ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'',<ref>E. Millicent Sowerby, ''Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson'', (Washington, D.C.: The Library of Congress, 1952-1959), 1:518 [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015033648091;view=1up;seq=548 [no.1145]].</ref> but, Jefferson's copy no longer exists.

As yet, the Wolf Law Library has been unable to obtain a copy of ''Arithmetical Warlike Treatise Named Stratioticos''.

==See also==
*[[Jefferson Inventory]]
*[[Wythe's Library]]

==References==
<references/>

__NOTOC__
[[Category:Jefferson's Books]]
[[Category:Leonard Digges]]
[[Category:Mathematics and Engineering]]
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]

[[Category:London]]

Select Cases Argued and Adjudged in the High Court of Chancery

2026-02-10T20:16:12Z

Aevrountas: /* by Great Britain, Court of Chancery */

{{DISPLAYTITLE: ''Select Cases Argued and Adjudged in the High Court of Chancery, Before the Late Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal and the Late Lord Chancellor King, from the year 1724 to 1733 with Two Tables, One of the Names of the Cases, and the Other of the Principal Matters''}}
===by Great Britain, Court of Chancery===
__NOTOC__
{{NoBookInfoBox
|shorttitle=Select Cases Argued and Adjudged in the High Court of Chancery
|commontitle=
|vol=
|author=Great Britain, Court of Chancery
|editor=
|trans=
|publoc=[[:Category:London|London, In the Savoy]]
|publisher=Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling for H. Lintot, D. Browne, and J. Shuckburgh
|year=1740
|edition=
|lang=[[:Category:English|English]]
|set=
|pages=
|desc=
}}This book is a compilation of selected cases from the English Court of Chancery.<ref>E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=b4NXAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Select Cases Argued and Adjudged in the High Court of Chancery Before the Late Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal and the Late Lord Chancellor King, from the Year 1724 to 1733: With Two Tables, One of the Names of the Cases, and the Other of the Principal Matters]'' (London, 1740).</ref>It was compiled in 1740 by "a gentleman of the temple."<ref>Ibid.</ref>The contained cases date from 1724-1733 and were argued before the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal, acting collectively in executing the office of the Lord Chancellor<ref>"[http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/WillandMar/1/21 The Great Seal Act of 1688]." 1 William & Mary c 21.</ref>, and Lord Chancellor Peter King, 1st Baron King (c. 1669- July 22, 1734)<ref>"[http://www.thepeerage.com/p47217.htm#i472162 Peter King, 1st Lord King, Baron of Ockham]." The Peerage. 2012.</ref> The reporter contains explanatory case notes in the margins of the text throughout the book.

The Court of the Chancery was a civil court. It was formed to be an alternative to the traditional common law courts, which had become "increasingly rigid and inflexible."<ref>"Chancery Division," Britannica, last modified October 19, 2018.</ref> Conversely, "The chancery was relatively cheap, efficient, and just; during the 15th and 16th centuries, it developed spectacularly at the expense of the common-law courts."<ref>Ibid.</ref> In addition to its influence on the legal and judicial sector, the development of the court also influenced the English language as a whole.<ref> "The Court of Chancery," Smithsonian Institution Archives.</ref> "[T]he quantity of paperwork created by Chancery helped set the spelling and grammar rules of an evolving language, as well as the visual appearance of English letters."<ref>Ibid.</ref>

The American colonies did not have chancery courts. This led to the devisement of alternative forms of equity jurisdiction. Especially in New England, they began to adopt a "Practice of Petitioning" to the legislature, "prompting it to act as a legislative court that asserted its authority in this area and transacted equity business."<ref> Jack Greene, "Thomas Pownall and the Limits of Royal Authority in Late Colonial Massachusetts Bay." ''Massachusetts Historical Review'' 20 (2018): 161.</ref> When filling the gap that the chancery court left, the legislature began to embody a role that the chancery court had not filled in Britain.<ref>Ibid.</ref> In fact, the governor of Massachusetts Thomas Pownall pointed to this difference at the time as an indicator that "the Massachusetts government had already acquired an independence from the metropolitan government."<ref>Ibid at 160.</ref> Because of this, the chancery courts, or lack thereof, could have been a revealing topic of study for a reader such as Wythe, who had reason to care about comparative approaches to government, especially during the late eighteenth century as the American colonies approached independence.

==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==
The Brown Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, 2009, rev. 2023) Microsoft Word document (on file at the Wolf Law Library, William & Mary Law School).</ref> suggests Wythe owned the 1740 edition of ''Select Cases Argued and Adjudged in the High Court of Chancery'' based on Wythe's reference to these reports in his arguments for ''[[Bolling v. Bolling]]'', "'Lord Chancellor [King]: This renewal lease, tho' for lives, shall follow the nature of the original one, and go to the executors as administrators of the infant as that should have gone ..."<ref>Bernard Schwartz, Barbara Wilcie Kern, R. B. Bernstein, eds., ''Thomas Jefferson and Bolling v. Bolling: Law and the Legal Profession in Pres-Revolutionary America'' (San Marino, CA: The Huntington Library; New York: New York University School of Law, 1997), 307.</ref> The Wolf Law Library has yet to find a copy of this title.

==See also==
*[[Wythe's Library]]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Case Reports]]
[[Category:Chancery Reports]]
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]

[[Category:English]]
[[Category:London]]

2025-11-04T19:32:45Z

Aevrountas: /* by Claude Lancelot */

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''A New Method of Learning with Greater Facility the Greek Tongue''}}
===by Claude Lancelot===
__NOTOC__
{{NoBookInfoBox
|shorttitle=A New Method of Learning with Greater Facility the Greek Tongue
|commontitle=
|vol=
|author=[[:Category:Claude Lancelot|Claude Lancelot]]
|editor=
|trans=Thomas Nugent
|publoc=
|publisher=
|year=
|edition=Precise edition unknown
|lang=
|set=
|pages=
|desc=[[:Category:Octavos|8vo]]
}}Claude Lancelot (1615-95) was a French grammarian. <ref> Claude Lancelot, ''A New Method of Learning with Faculty the Greek Tongue,'' trans. Thomas Nugent, (F. Wingrave, & J. Collingwood, Strand, 1817), iii.</ref> He was born in Paris, and was a member of the prestigious Port-Royal society of grammarians.<ref> Lancelot, ''A New Method,'' iii.</ref> The society published works on the subject of the theory behind grammar and logic, exploring the boundaries and roles of both disciplines.<ref>Bernard Roy, "Reasoned Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric at Port-Royal," ''Philosophy and Rhetoric'' 32, no. 2 (1999), 131-32.</ref> Its work was thus highly ideological and academic. While Lancelot was a key player in the society, he also worked as a teacher, particularly for children.<ref> Lancelot, ''A New Method,'' iii.</ref> As an educator, he differed from other teachers of grammar and found success as a result of his rational approach to the subject matter.<ref> Lancelot, ''A New Method,'' iii-iv.</ref> Lancelot wanted students to learn language for its own sake, rather than for the purpose of applying it to the study of literature.<ref>The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, ''Grammar: Linguistics,'' Encyclopedia Britannica, Accessed November 4, 2025.</ref>

"A New Method of Learning with Greater Facility the Greek Tongue" was written to be an educational tool. Lancelot offered a unique approach, as he "made an excellent use of the grammarians that went before him; and by his method he far outstripped them all."<ref> Lancelot, ''A New Method,'' iii.</ref> In teaching Greek, Lancelot streamlined the material by "distinguishing necessary rules from others, by way of text and annotations; [and] in retrenching superfluities, by reducing the ten declensions of former grammarians to three [...]."<ref> Lancelot, ''A New Method,'' iii.</ref> Thus, while Lancelot’s publication with the Port-Royal was highly ideological, this educational publication made understanding a new language as digestible as possible.

==Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library==
Listed in the [[Jefferson Inventory]] of [[Wythe's Library]] as "Portroyal Gr. Grammar by Nugent 8<sup>vo</sup>." and given by [[Thomas Jefferson]] to his grandson [[Thomas Jefferson Randolph]]. As far as we know, Wythe's copy does not survive. It may have been one of the two copies sold by Thomas Jefferson's estate in 1829.<ref>Thomas Jefferson, ''Catalogue: President Jefferson's Library: A Catalogue of the Extensive and Valuable Library of the Late President Jefferson'' (United States: Gales and Seaton, 1829), 13:no. 837.)</ref> The Brown Bibliography<ref>Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, 2009, rev. 2023) Microsoft Word document (on file at the Wolf Law Library, William & Mary Law School).</ref> lists the third edition (1777) of ''A New Method of Learning with Greater Facility the Greek Tongue'' by Claude Lancelot and translated by Thomas Nugent. [http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe George Wythe's Library]<ref>''LibraryThing'', s.v. "[http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe Member: George Wythe]," accessed on July 10, 2025.</ref> on LibraryThing includes the same title with the statement, "Precise edition unknown. Several octavo editions of this work were published at Cambridge and London, the first in 1730." As yet, the Wolf Law Library has been unable to find a copy of this title.

==See also==
*[[Jefferson Inventory]]
*[[Wythe's Library]]

==External Links==
Read the 1797 edition of this book from [https://books.google.com/books?id=hvAIAAAAQAAJ&dq=A+New+Method+of+Learning+with+Greater+Facility+the+Greek+Tongue+By+Claude+Lancelot Google Books].

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Claude Lancelot]]
[[Category:Language and Rhetoric]]
[[Category:Thomas Jefferson Randolph's Books]]
[[Category:Titles in Wythe's Library]]

[[Category:Octavos]]